John Dell'Osso

@johndellosso

Investigative journalist focused on corruption, money laundering and other forms of skulduggery. Game designer and founder, @investigativesimulations.org. Semi-random thoughts on transportation, bikes and music.

289 Folgt1.812 Follower418 Posts

YouTube Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir johndellosso.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Jun 28

🇨🇭 It was an honor to talk to students at the Institut de lutte contre la criminalité économique Neuchâtel, Switzerland alongside my friend @karinepfenniger.bsky.social about doing financial investigations with open sources.

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Jun 16

With the ever-declining state of search, the verb "Google" is on the same etymological arc as "Munson"

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Jun 12

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Jun 10

@dgillison.bsky.social and I had a packed house on a Saturday morning at #IRE25 in New Orleans last year for our session on figuring out who benefits from secretive offshore companies. And now, we're bringing it back home to Washington, DC (sort of) for #IRE26 (@ire.org)

I'm speaking at IRE26.

Strategies for investigating offshore companies

Saturday, June 20, 2026 11:30am

John Dell'Osso

Douglas Gillison

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Jun 9

Evergreen and widely applicable @xkcd.com.

All modern digital infrastructure. A project some random person in Nebraska has been thanklessly maintaining since 2003.

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Apr 18

Yikes.

Ray-Ban Meta add that says, "Capture it all"

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Mar 12

🇳🇬 🇺🇸 A group in #Nigeria is pressing for an investigation into assets held by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu. A court filing cites an investigation @tbartelme.bsky.social and I published last year exposing Uzor Kalu's properties in the Carolinas. cc: @pplaaf.bsky.social @acdatacollective.bsky.social

Charges sought for Nigerian who bought Carolina properties

BY TONY BARTELME and JOHN DELL’OSSO
tbartelme@postandcourier.com
For The Post and Courier

Citing The Post and Courier’s
findings, a Nigerian watchdog
group recently filed court docu-
ments demanding that the coun-
tr y’s anti-corruption agency
prosecute severa l prominent
politicians there, including one
who poured millions of dollars
into real estate in the Carolinas.
The group, Support the Youth
Organization, said in a blistering
court petition that corruption
schemes looted the equivalent of
more than $700 million from the
oil-rich state of Abia in southern
Nigeria. Money meant for teach-
ers, farmers and highways instead
moved into the bank accounts of
government officials, the petition
said.

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Mar 12

To put this into perspective...

Gertler mining deals could cost Congo $1.76 bln in royalties: activists

By Reuters

May 12, 202111:27 AM EDTUpdated May 12, 2021

KINSHASA, May 12 (Reuters) - Congo could lose out on $1.76 billion in potential royalty payments from its copper and cobalt mining deals with Israeli mining magnate Dan Gertler, an anti-corruption group said on Wednesday, calling on the government to open an investigation.

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Mar 10

This email from #DOGE staffer Justin Fox (recently deposed in the NEH case) is shocking. Did he not understand separation of powers? Did he not know GAO is part of the legislative branch? The EO cites 5 USC 551, which clearly (and obviously) says: "but does not include— (A) the Congress;"

From: Justin Fox - A < >
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2025 8:59 PM
To: Williams (Brown), Orice M < >;
Cc: Nate Cavanaugh - Q2 < >
Subject: GAO | DOGE Intro

CAUTION EXTERNAL EMAIL: Do not click on any links or open any attachments unless you trust the sender and/or know the content is safe. If you are suspicious of the e-mail, click on the Report Suspicious Emails button.

Hi Orice, Paul,

My name is Justin Fox – I’m a member of the DOGE team working at the General Services Administration.

Are you available for a call this week concerning the Government Accountability Office? Per the President’s January 20th Executive Order, I would like to discuss getting a DOGE team assigned to the agency.

Thanks,

Justin

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Mar 7

"Through a multinational partnership of five organizations, our winner took an international story – America’s corporate secrecy failures – and made it relevant to local audiences."

A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism
Investigative reporters are trained to follow the money, but it takes resources to follow the money. That’s why the South Carolina Press Association and the A-Mark Foundation have created a new award to support and encourage investigative reporting excellence in the Palmetto State.
First Place:
Tony Bartelme, Glenn Smith and John Dell’Osso
The Post and Courier
Our First Place A-Mark winner is a masterclass in investigative digging and collaboration.
Through a multinational partnership of five organizations, our winner took an international story – America’s corporate secrecy failures – and made it relevant to local audiences. This projects includes three notable stories — Power and Polo, The Russians Next Door, and a report on how Nigerian politicians sank millions of dollars in properties across the Carolinas.
Publication of The Post and Courier’s stories reverberated around the globe, generating strong readership in West Africa and here at home. Transparency experts have highlighted this project. And in the South Carolina Lowcountry, a local official is trying hard to sell the Russians’ properties for back taxes. Please join us in honoring our first place A-Mark Prize winner and recipient of a $7,500 prize — $5,000 for the journalists and $2,500 to the news organization – Tony Bartelme, Glenn Smith and John Dell’Osso of The Post and Courier.

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Feb 9

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Jan 20

A Revolver

Here is a revolver.
It has an amazing language all its own.
It delivers unmistakable ultimatums.
It is the last word.
A simple, little human forefinger can tell a terrible story with it.
Hunger, fear, revenge, robbery hide behind it.
It is the claw of the jungle made quick and powerful.
It is the club of the savage turned to magnificent precision.
It is more rapid than any judge or court of law.
It is less subtle and treacherous than any one lawyer or ten.
When it has spoken, the case can not be appealed to the supreme
court, nor any mandamus nor any injunction nor any stay of ex-
ecution come in and interfere with the original purpose.
And nothing in human philosophy persists more strangely than the
old belief that God is always on the side of those who have the
most revolvers.

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Jan 16

It's perhaps a bit much, but finding a lot of relevant symbolism in this show for the current moment. In particular, this guy...

A mind-bending telekinetic creature from Scavengers Reign that has an endless appetite and is profoundly vindictive, violent and dangerous.

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Jan 3

"We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition"

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Dec 5

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Nov 29

Vision Zero

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Nov 25

DC politics today.

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Nov 7

If I weren't a po' boy, Ya ha deedle deedle bubba bubba deedle deedle dum

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Nov 4

Whenever someone noteworthy dies, I think of this.

Christopher Hitchens eulogizing Jerry Falwell

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Sep 28

Khotimskiy owned homes near Hilton Head in his name, but his properties in Atlanta were held by LLCs. Georgia, like most states, doesn't require LLCs to identify their owners or file anything if shares change hands. Here's one LLC from when Sergey held shares and after he divested. See the issue?

At the 764 Memorial Operating LLC's formation, the listed parties are from the law firm representing the company and there's an address for a commercial real estate management business.

In early 2025, several years after Sergey Khotimskiy was sanctioned by the US, the only listed parties on the company's annual filing are from the same law firm and the same commercial real estate management business.

John Dell'Osso@johndellosso· Sep 28

The investigation tells a bigger story about corporate secrecy and how hard it is to know who your neighbor (or your landlord) is. It turns out that the US has a bit of a problem in this regard, and it makes it easier to hide potential misconduct. This can even undermine national security.